Directions

1. Begin to heat water to a boil for pasta. Add pasta and cook according to package directions while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.2. Brown and crumble ground beef with diced onion. Drain well and rinse if desired.3. Add jar of spaghetti sauce (lite/lowfat/healthy versions will lower calories, but this recipe calculates based on regular Bertolli Tomatoe & Basil sauce) and a can of diced tomatoes to the ground beef and simmer while the pasta cooks or however long you wish to simmer. 4. When pasta is cooked, drain well. Combine pasta and sauce in casserole dish or dishes. Toss to mix well. 5. If desired, add spoonfuls of low-fat or fat free cottage cheese and fold in to mix slightly.6. Top with low fat shredded cheese. Bake in hot oven (400f or whatever temperature you are using to bake other menu items is fine) till cheese melts and begins to brown slightly.

* You may wish to sautee small diced veggies such as zuchinni or eggplant with the meat. You can add a shredded carrot if desired. Using ground turkey, chicken or a veggie meat substitute may lower the fat/calories. If preparing casseroles to freeze, you may wish to add extra tomatoes or sauce because while this freezes and reheats WONDERFULLY it does seem a bit dry if you don't add extra.

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Member Ratings For This Recipe

Great recipe thanks! If I would have know it was so easy to hide veggies in a dish, I would have done it along time ago. I added zuchinni and spinach and no one complained. Even the whole wheat pasta when unnoticed. I did use some oregano, garlic and basil in my cottage cheese. So good, keeper!
- 7/11/12

Super yummy but even better for lunch the next day! I shredded some zucchini into mine for extra vegetables and my kids didn't even notice. They loved it too! I did a large can of diced tomatoes and it was a bit watery but made the leftovers SO good!
- 2/21/12

I am baking this right now and it smells amazing! I hade some blue corn pasta spirals so I took this in a south of the boarder direction. Salsa, chorizo sausage and red peppers. Its so nice to have it baking while I shower and make a salada.
- 1/19/11

I thought this was Good, but DH and DD both gave it a 2. DH thought it needed spices like garlic and oregano. I added carrots and zucchini and thought the zucchini was really good. It made 14 (1 cup) servings at 235 calories each. I baked it for 30 minutes, since it didn't give a time.
- 4/30/09

This is a VERY easy to make & delicious recipe. My kids NEVER go back for seconds but they sure did for this one!! And I substituted ground turkey for the beef and they never knew the difference. Thank you Elaine for this winner.
- 1/22/08

This tasted good, but it made way too much. I don't like leftovers nor does my family, so this just was way too much food for me. Otherwise, it tasted fine. I used wheat spaghetti noodles that I already had. This would be a good dish for entertaining as well.
- 6/13/07

Great recipe easy thought it would be more work to it . Husband loved it did not notice the veggie inside it. Put in carrots, green pepper,celery,mushroom,add a little bit of italian seasoning and a master piece is made hubsband exact words.
- 5/1/07